A Shared Journey
by Danny R 2078
Summary: Set between the end of Infinite and the start of Burial at Sea so expect spoilers. As Elizabeth tracks another iteration of Comstock, she finds a new traveling companion.
1. A Fortunate Encounter

Set between the end of Bioshock Infinite and the beginning of Burial at Sea, so expect some spoilers.

Elizabeth has been wandering from reality to reality in an effort to break all of the repeating loops by killing every version of Comstock, still exploring all of her new found abilities that come with omnipotence. Every universe seems the same, the differences being so minimal, and her energy is starting to run out due to the difficult and monotonous task she has undertaken.

A Fortunate Encounter

Her shoes clacked softly on the wooden planks as she slowly traipsed to the next lighthouse, her head was fixed on the unsteady surface she was crossing, not out of caution but out of sheer exhaustion. Her eyes had lost the spark that they once held, now stared lifelessly as her mind processed all that she had done and all that she still had to do. The deep blue dress she wore was covered with filth and torn in several places, and stained with crimson in many more.

She felt the ground change as she arrived at the next lighthouse, the loose timber suddenly giving way to solid grey stone. She stopped at the base of the short flight of stairs up to the entrance, her gaze raised gradually to the top of the tower. She wondered how much longer it would take her to finish her mission, would she ever even finish? Now more than ever she needed some encouraging words from someone, suddenly realizing how silent it was without Booker. She missed him greatly.

"Come on Elizabeth" She muttered under her breath, pushing the thoughts of Booker back out of her mind and motivating herself to keep going.

She climbed the stone steps and pushed the door hard; the doors were always hard to open so she needed to put her whole weight into it. All of a sudden she found herself falling forward; there had barely been any resistance from the large, metal door. The land on the other side was completely different to anything Elizabeth had seen before, instead of a different city, another lighthouse, or any recognisable land, she was floating in a seemingly endless expanse of nothingness. She twisted her head around to see if the door was still open for her to go back, but all she saw was the endless white nothing that was all around her.

Panic began to rise in her chest, this wasn't something she had ever seen, she'd never ever thought about being trapped in a different world again. She tried opening a tear to escape but there was no success. The great white abyss seamed to stretch silently forever in every direction she turned.

"Hello..." She called as loud as she dared into the emptiness, her voice cracking slightly as the fear began to climb to her throat. There was no reply, not even an echo; it was as if even her voice was being muffled slightly. Elizabeth spun in place, desperately searching for anything in the void. She stopped spinning, suddenly aware that her feet were in contact with a solid surface. Looking down she saw no change in the endless white expanse, yet she was definitely standing on something. With no other options left, half expecting her foot to pass through empty air with her every step, she began walking.

As she stumbled along, she held her hands out in front of her, just in case there were more invisible surfaces. Elizabeth was startled when the tips of her fingers brushed against something at her head height. She slowly pressed her palms against the unseen object, finding a large flat wall; cool to the touch, extending both ways in front of her. She traced it down to where it met the floor at an edge, and was surprised to see a slight shadow extending along a straight line. She followed it with her eyes, noticing it met two others at a corner, as she stared the shadows became more defined, forming the outline of a large, rectangular room.

"Hello..."

The sudden whisper cut through the silence and startled Elizabeth, mostly because the voice was not just her echo. It was definitely a man's voice. All of a sudden the blank box she was standing in filled with colour, deep wooden browns and polished gleaming brass. She found herself in some sort of small library, at the top of a small raised staircase.

'Not just a library, my library' she thought, noticing the familiar book titles lining the shelves. She whipped her head round to look out of the large window that had been her only view of the outside world for so long, but saw only the blank nothingness she had been trapped in moments ago.

"That's right" Elizabeth sighed to herself "The tower's gone now."

"What tower?"

A chill worked its way up her spine; the voice was more than just a whisper now. Whoever he was, he was standing only a few feet behind her. Calling up all of her courage, Elizabeth hesitantly turned to face the unknown man. As her gaze rose to meet his she noticed the familiar striped slacks and the blue waistcoat, staring back at her were the deep green eyes of Booker Dewitt.

"Booker!" she cried, feeling a jumble of emotions well up in her chest.

"Who?" replied Booker, in a voice that clearly wasn't his? Elizabeth's heart sank, whoever this was, he clearly wasn't her Booker, she could tell by his eyes. The spark of life her Booker had always had was completely missing from the gaze of this one.

"Wh...Who are you?" she stuttered out at the man standing before her. "Why do you look like Booker?"

"I presume that this body is the Booker you keep referring to?" he replied "I simply assumed this form as it seemed to be the dominant image in your mind at the time, does it bother you? Would you like me to change it?" The strangers' voice sounded bizarre coming from Bookers mouth, it disturbed Elizabeth how Bookers usual accent had been replaced with the emotionless tone of this man.

"What... What do you mean 'assumed'?" she questioned. It seemed like a reasonable query to start with.

"I merely took the appearance of this 'Booker' as it seemed a calming sight to you, although now it appears that I misjudged that." The stranger replied, staying silent for a moment. "Ahh, I see now. This man is dead is he not?"

Elizabeth stood in shock, the frankness of his, no, its words, hit her deep. Booker was dead, the thought gave her chills. She closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure, but when she opened them, she was alone in the library.

'What's going on?' was all she could think, had the strain of all her killing finally overwhelmed her? No. It couldn't, she still had so much more to do. She couldn't give up now; she had to find a way back to her lighthouses.

"Do not be afraid Miss Elizabeth." The voice came from directly in her head. "I have had some more time to view the information you have presented me, and am perfectly willing to answer your questions. If you wish to leave then I shall gladly open the door for you."

"What do you mean?" she cried, she didn't like this feeling of not knowing, it felt like she was back in her tower. "What information have I given you? What are you?"

"You have been giving me Information since you arrived. I see every thought you have, even the ones you did not know you had. As for what I am, I cannot say. Before you arrived I was not even aware of my own existence, I only know as much as you do." The voice whispered in her head, it spoke surprisingly softly.

"Why can't I see you then?" she replied, feeling slightly awkward talking to no one, even though it wasn't the first time.

"I am forming a new body, as the one belonging to Mr Dewitt appeared to upset you." The voice answered, she was aware that it was no longer in her head, instead it sounded like it was moving around her. "But" It continued. "You do not appear to have read or learnt much in the way of human anatomy, so I am attempting to piece together what I can."

Before her eyes the body started forming. From where the voice had last sounded a tall, thin man stepped out of the air. He fixed his emotionless blue eyes on Elizabeth, only to notice her turned away, blushing.

"What is the matter, Miss? Is this form also displeasing?" He seemed genuinely ignorant of the problem, so she would be forced to tell him.

"The body is fine, but would you mind forming some clothes around it?" She met his gaze, making sure she didn't look down. She had killed many times, and was used to torture after her time in Comstock house, but Elizabeth had never had to deal with a man like this before.

"Ahh yes, so sorry" He clicked his fingers and was suddenly dressed in a loose white shirt and dark blue slacks. With his short, uncombed brown hair, he looked just like a male Elizabeth. "I did not realise that all humans wear these things."

"Well" She sighed. "Now that that's sorted..." She paused, realising something. "By the way, who are you?" She knew she probably should have asked this sooner.

"I do not know I'm afraid, as I have said, I was not aware of myself until a short while ago." He stopped to think for a second. "If you mean my name, you may call me whatever you like Miss."

"How do you know my name anyway?"

"Again, it is as I said, I saw it in your thoughts."

"And I don't suppose you know how you are able to do that either?" she said with her head in her hands, this was starting to get confusing, even for someone with supposed omnipotence. "You said you were able to open the door out of here yes?"

"Of course Miss Elizabeth" With that he walked to the nearest wall of the library and pushed with one hand. A section swung open, revealing the water and wooden paths she had been walking only a little while ago. "There you are."

She slowly walked towards the open door, afraid of any traps he might have prepared for her.

"I assure you Miss there are no tricks or traps." He spoke suddenly, giving Elizabeth a small fright. "But, if you would allow me to make a request, may accompany you?"

The question out of nowhere was quite a shock to her. "What do you mean? Why?"

"I have looked through your memories of the numerous other worlds you have passed through, and I am curious to see them for myself. I believe I may be of use to you as well." He explained directly. She thought she saw a small flash of sorrow in his eyes for a second.

She thought for a moment, if he was deceiving her or planning her any harm, why hadn't he done it already? Plus she knew her mission was a dangerous and lonely one, and she would be glad of some company, even from whatever this man was.

"Very well, you may come with me, but on one condition." She answered after several minutes. "Please stop looking through my mind."

"Of course Miss Elizabeth" He bowed slightly to her, but it only lowered his head to her height.

"Well, seeing as you believe you'll be able to help, and given all that you appear able to do..." She declared to him, smirking. "...I shall call you Abel until we find a better name for you."

"As you wish Miss" He replied, following her through the door. As they started the journey forward, the door closed softly behind them.


	2. A City in the Sand

A City in the Sand

Elizabeth walked briskly towards the next lighthouse, very aware of her new companion a step behind her, his head on a swivel as he tried to see everything at once. It would probably be a while before she was used to Abel, they had only been walking together for a few minutes, but she could already tell he would most likely cause her some problems. For now she would at least try to get him to walk normally.

"Could you please stop that?" She finally asked, irritated.

"What is the problem Miss Elizabeth?" His eyes immediately snapped round to meet hers. She found his empty, blue stare slightly unnerving, but she had to get him sorted out before they entered a new world, else he would most likely cause an incident.

"That." She gestured to his feet, hovering about an inch above the ground. "We're about to go into a new reality, filled with normal people." She paused, hoping in vain he would get what she was hinting at, but he just continued to stare at her. She sighed, already getting stressed. "Normal people don't float, they walk."

"Ahh of course Miss." His feet dropped to the ground instantly.

"Stop calling me Miss, Elizabeth is fine." She snapped. "And try to blink more, humans blink a lot. If you give it away that we don't belong in a world, it'll make getting out a lot harder."

She was beginning to regret letting him follow her, but, as she watched him kneel down to inspect the rough wooden planks they had been walking on, she didn't feel any danger of malicious intent coming from him, only curiosity. She reminded her of herself when she had first left her tower, although he was a lot less energetic than she had been.

She walked the last few feet to the lighthouse, taking a seat on its stone steps she called out to him.

"Abel, come here for a moment."

'Well, that's a start.' She thought as he got up and walked normally towards her.

"Through this door is a whole different world, very different to this one or the one you came from." She explained, gesturing to the great metal doors behind her. "In this world there will be a large city, and in that city there will be a man named Comstock. We are going to kill this man." She paused, waiting to answer any question he had, though she wasn't quite sure what he'd ask first.

He gazed into space for a second, apparently thinking the same thing, before asking his first question.

"How do you know there is a city on the other side?"

Maybe not the most important question, but it was easy enough for her to answer.

"There's always a city, always a lighthouse. It's a constant, what the city will look like and where it will be are variables. Every world has its own constants and variables."

He stood for another second. "The Luteces told you that didn't they."

Elizabeth was shocked the Abel knew this, and then she remembered he had looked into her mind while she was in his world.

"Yes they did." She continued her explanation of her plan. "Once we're through, we'll start gathering as much information on Comstock as we can. Then, after a few days, we'll sneak into his home and kill him as quietly as possible. Once that's done; we'll leave that world and return to this one. Do you understand?" She leaned back to look up at him, resting on her elbows as she waited for him to respond.

"Why must we kill this Comstock?"

It was the question she had been dreading.

"It's because he is a very evil man." She hoped he would be satisfied with that, to no avail.

"I understand that the original Comstock you encountered was indeed evil, but does that mean that all Comstocks, across all worlds, are the same?" He responded immediately.

It was true and she knew it. In several worlds she had encountered versions of Comstock who had committed no great crimes, and she had never found evidence that they were truly evil. Was the mission she had given herself really helping all the worlds? Was she doing the right thing?

No, Elizabeth shook her head to clear her mind. Good or bad, the only way to break the endless cycle that every reality was stuck in was to kill the Comstocks. She knew this was the truth, but she didn't know how to explain it to Abel.

"I can understand if you do not wish to answer Miss, I know it weighs heavily on your mind." She found his voice strangely calming, it helped settle her mind.

"I told you not to call me Miss." She replied, sighing. "Come on, we'd better hurry up."

"Is there really any need to hurry Miss. I don't think time really matters when we are travelling across worlds,"

It annoyed her slightly that he was right. She got up and stepped towards the door. Abel was there before her thought, as she approached he held it open for her.

'Well, at least he has manners.' She thought.

The second she crossed the threshold she was overwhelmed by the change in scenery. Instead of a calm blue sea, she was standing in front of a lighthouse surrounded by sand as far as she could see. The sun beat down on her from a cloudless sky, causing her to squint and sweat instantly. From somewhere behind the lighthouse there was an almost deafening noise, it sounded like old machinery for the most part, but every few seconds that was punctuated by a tremendous crash.

The soft thud behind her was barely audible, but it let her know Abel had come through as well. She turned to him, ready to give him instructions and only slightly surprised that he was just as composed as he was a moment ago, when she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. She edged round the lighthouse to get a better look, stopping in her tracks when she saw what had been moving.

A massive grey wall stretched for miles either side of the lighthouse. Looking at it closer she realized it was not a wall, but a gigantic living creature, its flesh thick, grey and rough. At random places along its body it had great patches of leather and brass attached, with what looked like doors and walkways attached to them. One of its many massive legs swung through the air in front of her, it was thick enough to crush a small house.

Abel's voice suddenly snapped her back to her senses.

"Is that the city you mentioned up there Miss?" He asked, pointing up to the top of the giant animal. She craned her neck up to look at what he was pointing to, noticing that, while the creature was very long, it was completely flat on top. From its back she could make out regular shapes sticking into the sky. A small lowered platform was slowly approaching the top of the tall, thin lighthouse; it looked like it was made to be level with the lighthouse. It was probably made to enter the city.

"Come on, we'd better get to the top" She told Abel as she entered the lighthouse. He joined Elizabeth as she started climbing the long wooden staircase up to the top. It was slightly cooler inside, but she still found the ascent tiring, and she was soon out of breath. She glanced over the thin rope that acted as a handrail, they had already climbed a good distance but, as she looked up, they still had quite a way to go. Elizabeth wasn't confident they would reach the top before the platform passed, she just couldn't move fast enough. She turned to Abel, starting to get angry that he barely looked out of breath; he hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

"Are you okay Miss Elizabeth?" He met her gaze. "You do not look well, do you require some assistance?"

She was about to lose it with him, but, as she opened her mouth to give a very unladylike response; he stepped forwards and put his arms under her back.

"Please put you arms around my neck Miss." He instructed her as he lifted her off the ground. "We shall be at the top momentarily."

Elizabeth was completely lost for words, they had only just met, how dare he think he could just pick her up. He should have at least asked first. She was furious, but she linked her arms behind his neck anyway. If he felt any strain from her weight, he didn't let it show.

'Well, it is easier than climbing, and quicker.' She thought to herself as Abel continued up the stairs, much faster than she had been going.

She got him to put her down just before they reached the top, they had gotten up there in mere minutes, they must have beaten the platform. Elizabeth climbed the last few steps and pushed open the small wooden door onto the roof. The light of the desert blinded her again so she stood for a second to let her eyes adjust. When she could see again she noticed a short scaffold jutting out towards the city, it was crowded with people, all dressed in rags. There had to be at least 50 off them, all crammed on there. She looked to the side of the massive animal to see how far away the platform was, noticing that it would be level with the scaffold shortly. Now it was closer she could see a crowd of people were huddled on it as well. Some were clearly guards, judging from the way they stood, but most simply looked like they were waiting for something.

The air was suddenly quiet as the platform drew level with the scaffold; it took Elizabeth a minute to realize this was because the great animal that the city was perched upon had come to a stop. Now that the platform was much closer she could clearly see the people she had seen before. There were 12 of them, 5 were guards, wearing bronze armour that gleamed in the sun. They carried long spears with strange mechanisms set into the shaft. The rest were all talking excitedly, they wore loose robes of brilliant colours, the men only had them hanging off of one shoulder. Behind the small group was an ornate display that seemed to be carved out of marble, two pillars held flaming torches up, illuminating the flat sheet of stone between them. She read the letters carved deeply into it.

WELCOM TO HEAVEN, WELCOME TO ELYSIUM.

She gathered that was the name of the city.

"Does Elysium not also mean heaven?" Abel whispered suddenly over her shoulder.

"Yes, it does." Elizabeth replied. "How do you know that?" She asked, remembering that it was Abel asking.

"I know what you know, Miss." He stated, as if she should know this by now. It seemed like every time he spoke he did so just to irritate her.

The group of people on the scaffolding they were standing on had started shuffling forwards onto the other platform, forming a rough queue in front of a low stone table. Behind the table sat one of the robed people, she was quite plump, and was smiling with genuine joy at the cloaked figures before her. As they approached she handed them sheets of paper and pointed them to one of the guards, who then directed them down a narrow wooden bridge and round a corner, into one of the doors set into a great leather patch.

Elizabeth and Abel waited at the back of the queue, slowly shuffling forward until they reached the woman's table.

"Hello, and welcome to Elysium, a place where the pain of life is forgotten." She spoke with an unmistakable British accent. "Are you travelling together?"

"Yes" Elizabeth blurted out, before Abel could open his mouth.

"Very well, please take these papers and follow the instructions of the Hoplites." She handed them a thick wedge of paper and directed them towards the guards Elizabeth had seem earlier. "Goodbye and good luck to you." She gave them a massive grin.

"Thank you."

Elizabeth grabbed Abels arm and pulled him in the direction she had been pointed. As she approached the guard he raised his arm and directed them across the wooden bridge. Now that Elizabeth was closer she could examine the guard more closely. What she had assumed to be bronze armour from a distance was in fact part of its body, its skin growing over the metal plate sunk slightly into its chest. Its face was another piece of bronze, moulded to look like a Greek statue. A weak flow of air could be heard passing through the empty grin where its mouth should be. The spear it held was slightly thicker at the base, the mechanism set into its handle appeared to be a trigger. She thought they must be some type of firearm.

She hurried on, not eager to upset the metallic soldier. She stood before the small metal doorway with Abel, clutching his arm tightly with anticipation.

"Well, Miss Elizabeth, shall we go in?" He asked, stepping forwards and opening the door.


End file.
